The novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 in people, has affected 12 of the 130 mink farms in the Netherlands. Because of the risk of the mink acting as a reservoir for additional human infection, the government has decided to cull all animals at the affected farms. Two workers at the farms have been infected by mink, the only known cases of people infected by animals, apart from the as-yet-unknown original source of the virus.

More details on the outbreak of coronavirus infection in mink in the Netherlands can be read in the journal Science.

More information on management and diseases of mink is available in the Merck Veterinary Manual.